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06 Sept 2025

Cork and Galway set for historic clash at Croke Park: All-Ireland Camogie Final preview

The stage is set for a first-of-its kind final where old foes battle it out in new armour for two old rivals to do battle once more.

Cork and Galway set for historic clash at Croke Park: All-Ireland Camogie Final preview

Niamh McPeake of Galway in action against Saoirse McCarthy of Cork during the 2024 Camogie All-Ireland Senior Camogie Championship final | PICTURES: Sportsfile

In the 11th installment of The Rebels taking on The Tribeswomen to battle it it out for The O’Duffy Cup and a repeat of last year's final, Cathal Murray's Galway and Ger Manley's Cork women are ready to face off once again in the 94th senior camogie final this Sunday, August 10, in Croke Park at 5.15 pm.

Before it, Armagh take on Laois in the junior final at 1pm and Offaly play Kerry in the intermediate final at 3pm.

Cork are currently hot favourites to win the senior title with odds of 1/5 vs Galway coming in at 7/2. This is no surprise as Cork are vying  to become the first team ever to complete a three-in-a-row on four separate occasions, (1934-1936), (1939-1941) & (1970-1973).

Cork are currently tied with Dublin as the only teams to have achieved three separate three-in-a-rows but a win on Sunday would see the Rebels stand alone with a record-breaking fourth and pick up their 31st all Ireland title.

In the 10 occasions that Galway and Cork have met in the final, it has been the Lee siders who have dominated winning 8 times. However the pair's last meeting was in 2021 where Galway came out victorious picking up their 4th All Ireland title.

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Where can I watch and listen to the All-Ireland camogie finals?

Coverage of the triple header of finals starts on RTÉ 2 television and on the RTÉ player at 12.45pm on Sunday. There will also be full radio coverage on RTÉ Radio 1's Sunday Sport, beginning from 2pm.

Damian Lawlor will lead the live coverage on the Sunday Game on RTÉ 2 with analysis from Anna Geary, Ursula Jacob and Anne Marie Hayes.

Ger Canning and Elaine Aylward will provide the commentary for the senior final.

Tradition meets change

This is a pioneering moment for Camogie, as this will be the first final since the association's inception where the players will not be required to wear skorts.

Rule 26.2 in the Camogie Association’s Official Guide or more colloquially known as "the skort rule" required players to wear a skirt, skort, or divided skirt during matches and explicitly banned shorts.

This rule sparked national debate far beyond disagreeing over a piece of clothing. It highlighted sexism in sports and outdated gender norms.

Tensions boiled over when Dublin and Kilkenny players showed up in shorts during a Leinster semi-final and were given an ultimatum of changing into proper attire or having the match abandoned, they eventually changed into skorts.Cork and Waterford also planned to protest by refusing to wear skorts for the Munster final, which was ultimately postponed due to the dispute.

On May 22nd of this year a Special Congress convened, where 98% of the 133 delegates voted to allow players the choice between skorts or shorts. The rule change took effect immediately at midnight, just in time for the All‑Ireland Championship.

Camogie Association President Brian Molloy emphasized that it wasn’t about eliminating skorts, but about giving the thousands of woman who play our national sport the freedom of choice in their cloths.

Attendance                                                                                                                                                                      Mr Molloy is hopeful that the wave of media attention the Camogie Association has received this summer will lead to a record-breaking crowd on Sunday.

The highest attendance to date came in 2023 where 30,191 attended the finals, the first time that a stand alone camogie event surpassed an audience of 30,000.The Camogie Association has set a goal to achieve an All-Ireland final attendance of 50,000 by 2026.

This target is part of a broader strategy to raise attendances at camogie fixtures by 20% by 2026.

With the earlier GAA fixtures already wrapped up, the Camogie Finals mark the official end of the 2025 Gaelic Games season, making this Sunday the last chance for fans to indulge before the leagues return in January 2026.

With all eyes on the camogie this weekend the question remains will the wests awake be able to stop the Rebels roar?

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